To Protect
by CrimsonDragon2.9
Summary: Assigned to assist Bee guard Sam, Ironhide meets somone who changes his life. Ironhide x OC
1. Chapter 1

I do not own anything relating to the Transformers. Alysta Hunt is my intellectual property. I make no profit from this work.

Ironhide did not do bored. After sitting for nearly seven hours, he thought he was going to blow a processor. Turning his sensors toward the scout parked next to him, Ironhide wondered how Bumbleebee managed to do this every day of the week. This was only day one, and it was enough to make the Topkick twitchy. Rolling ever so slightly forward and back, the grumpy gunner was trying his best…and failing.

"You don't have to stay…" came the amused voice of the scout.

Scowling at the cheerfully yellow Camaro, Ironhide huffed.

"Blackout was spotted on the scanners, so I get to babysit you and the boy."

Bumblebee chuckled internally as Ironhide seemed to sink on his tires a bit in resignation. Closing down the online game he used to keep himself occupied, Bumblebee prepared for the rush of students about to exit the school.

Just as Ironhide resolved that death by boredom was actually going to be his fate, he heard the most joyous sound…the final bell! Perking up, he scanned for Sam. The sooner they had the teen, the sooner they could get the hell out of here.

About three minutes later, an eternity by one Autobots' standards, Ironhide and Bumblebee spotted the sandy haired teen. He was carrying his backpack and a stack of books that seemed to belong to the girl walking next to him. She was just a tad shorter than Sam, around 5'8", and had silky black hair and bright sky blue eyes. Whatever Sam was saying had her giggling and slapping him on his upper arm. Just as they cleared the main walkway, and began to make their way toward Sam's 'car', another student stepped into their path.

"Hey Witwonky. Being a hero?" Sneered Trent, the jock who just seemed to have it in for Sam. Smirking Trent knocked the stack of books off of Sam's arm.

"God Trent why are you such a dick?" The girl asked, clearly annoyed.

"It's okay, Lys, I got 'em" Sam replied for the jock, as he bent to retrieve the textbooks.

As Sam knelt down, Trent decided it would be a good idea to kick the boy. Just as he got his leg cocked back, a very large hand landed on his shoulder.

"Bad idea." Came the baritone voice.

All three teens stopped and took in the stranger. At 6'4", the man was a walking wall of muscle. He had a Caucasian, but suntanned skin tone. Short black hair, which was just outside of a military style. And he had the most piercing blue eyes, which nearly glowed. And if that was not enough on the intimidation scale, he had a scar over his left eye that went from his forehead, across the bridge of his nose, to end just below his right eye. He was dressed in dark, military style cargo pants, black boots and a single pocket black t-shirt.

Trent, being the genius that he was, put his foot back down and turned toward the newcomer.

"And who the fuck are you?" Asked the jock.

Quirking an eyebrow, the stranger took a second to answer. Sam and Lys, simply stood waiting for Trent's inevitable death.

"I am Ian Steel. Mr. _Witwicky_ 's parents asked me to collect him from school." Came the even reply.

Finally seeing the peril he was in, Trent scowled at Ian. Scoffing he turned and walked away, but Ian heard him muttering.

"Yeah well fuck you freaks anyway."

Chuckling to himself, Ian looked to Sam.

"Ready to go?"

Sam had finally managed to gather the fallen books and was looking toward the parking lot, seeking out Bumblebee.

"Um, yeah, uh I have no idea who you are, but thanks for that, and we will be going now…"

Grabbing the Lys' hand, Sam began to pull her toward the Camaro. Hearing Ian clear his throat, Sam hesitated for a second.

"It wouldn't look very good on my record if Optimus found out I let that jock terrorize you…"

Spinning around, Sam stared at the man.

"How do you know that name?"

"Sam, who is this? And what's an 'Optimus'?" The dark haired girl inquired.

Chuckling, Ian stared back at Sam.

"Well it does tend to be a good idea to know your commanders name…" Ian let the sentence trail off, waiting for the boy to put two and two together.

Sam's face morphed from confusion, to annoyance to enlightenment in record time.

"IRONHIDE!?" The teen practically screamed.

The girl next to him was deeply confused, and wanted answers. Turning back to Sam she put her hands on her hips and got his attention.

"Samuel James Witwicky! What the fuck is going on here?"

Sending and internal comm to Bumblebee, Ironhide decided this femme was amusing.

"This ones got spunk!" He chuckled over the line.

"Yeah, she and Sam are old friends. Sam and I've been giving her rides home most of this school year. And thanks for the save. Ratchet hasn't had time to get my holo up and running yet."

"Eh, it's odd but useful. Wonder how he's gonna explain this one…"

Unaware of the conversation about them the teens continued to hash out the situation. Turning toward his companion, Sam searched for the right way to explain. Lys knew a bit, but the amount she couldn't know was staggering.

"Ah, yeah…remember last year, the whole military thing?"

Screwing up her face, Lys gave Sam a look. How did he expect her to forget? One has a hard time forgetting when your best friend comes back with some crazy story and horrendous scrapes, cuts and bruises.

"Yeah, the secret one?"

"Yeah that one. Well …Ironhide here was part of that."

Looking back at Ironhide, or Ian, the girl scowled.

"If he was part of that, how come you didn't recognize him? And what's with the multiple names?"

Looking to Ironhide for help, Sam realized the gunner was very amused, and just waiting to see how much rope Sam would use to hang himself this time.

"Well, he was behind the scenes, I never actually met him in person. And the names, it's a military thing. Codenames. That's why he called his commander 'Optimus'."

Satisfied that Sam was safe from hanging, Ironhide turned to the girl and extended a hand.

"Ian Steel, codename Ironhide. Weapons specialist and soldier. Nice to meet you."

Boldly looking into his eyes, and taking his hand, Lys replied.

"Alysta Hunt. Lys for short. Full time student. Nice to meet you as well, and thank you."

Smiling Ironhide turned toward the lot, and started walking. Sam and Lys followed. When they got to the Camaro, Ironhide made his way to the driver door of the Topkick.

"Holy cow! That truck is a monster!" Lys proclaimed, with appreciation.

Sam smirked, shaking his head as he put their stuff in the back seat.

"Okay, down girl. It's a nice truck, don't drool on it!"

Lys swung around and smacked Sam's shoulder. Crossing her arms over her chest she pretended to pout. She knew she had what many called an obsession with trucks, especially big trucks, but even if that were not the case, this was a fine piece of vehicular machinery.

Seeing the interplay, Ironhide chuckled. This squishy had good taste.

"You two wanna ride with me?" Asked the Autobot.

Not that he would ever admit it, but Ironhides' ego swelled quite a bit when Lys practically squeaked and turned to Sam, seeking permission.

"Nah, I gotta get my car home. Who knows what Trent would do if it was here unattended." Sam replied, knowing full well Bee would be fine, but quickly adding. "But if Ironhide wants to follow me, he can drop you off so we can study for those tests…"

Ironhide was not at all prepared for the set of 'puppy dog' eyes that Lys unleashed on him. Hearing Sam chuckle, and Bumblebee do the same on comms, Ironhide shifted uncomfortably. How could he say no to such a hopeful face?

"Yeah, sure. Lead the way."

Again unprepared, Ironhide was completely at a loss when the girl did actually squeal and wrapped him in a quick hug, before making a bee line for the passenger door. Grumbling at the situation, Ironhide got in the driver's side and prepared to follow Bee to Sam's house. He would soon discover he was out of his depth, in more ways than he thought possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Lys could not believe her luck. This had to be the finest, most decked out version of a GMC Topkick the market had to offer. As she settled into the passenger seat she gazed around the cab. Leather captain's chairs, in a rich almost matte black were accented with thin chrome trim. The rear bench seat was the same, each side bearing an unusual symbol, a face of sorts in chrome and red. Swiveling a bit more she realized the symbols were on all of the seats, and the steering wheel. The dash was also chrome accented, but instead of matte black, it bore a high black gloss finish, and had every feature known to man, and beyond. The floors were diamond cut steel plating, both in the front and back. Looking toward the driver's door as Ironhide opened it, she took in the bonus fact that the Topkick had a manual transmission. She giggled as she realized the shift handle was the cylinder from a Magnum revolver. Slipping her hand back for the passenger seat belt, Lys secured the latch and waited for Ironhide to get settled.

For his part, Ironhide gave Lys a bewildered look. 'Giggling? About what?' His internal sensors and scanners were keeping him very well aware of the "squishy" currently inside his alt form. It was hard not to be aware of her, the girl was practically vibrating in her excitement.

"Liking what you see?" He inquired.

"This has got to be the most _spectacular_ truck I have ever been in! Is this all custom? Who did the work for you? What size engine does he have?" Lys blurted.

With his ego now clearly riding in the vicinity of his roof, Ironhide settled into the driver's seat.

"Well yes it's all custom, I did the work myself…and how come you think it's a "he"?"

Ironhide figured there was no harm in telling her he was the builder, technically he did built himself into this particular alt. He hoped she wouldn't notice the fact that he was avoiding the engine question. While he was technically a Topkick, the Cybertronian build under his hood was anything but stock. Glancing her way he was slightly taken back by the look on Lys' face.

"Well of course it's a he, if it wasn't this would be one butch chick!"

Lys said it with so much conviction and so matter of factly, a millisecond web search later, and Ironhide burst out laughing.

"Fair point. So shall we head to Sam's?"

Resettling into her seat, Lys pointed toward the Camaro and nodded.

"Take it away, Ian!" Pausing with a curious look on her face. "Or do you prefer Ironhide?" She queried.

Fastening his own belt, Ironhide commed Bee to get moving, then went through the motions of pulling out of the lot, following Bumblebee. Taking a second to check traffic, Ironhide replied.

"More used to Ironhide, but either is fine."

Lapsing into silence, Ironhide kept his eyes on the road. But his sensors were very alert to the fact that Lys was currently running her fingers along the edge of his seat, tracing the chrome trim. Her excitement it seemed, was translating into nervous energy. The sensation was...odd…the best he could compare it to was a tickle, but not quite.

Lys meanwhile, was so lost in thought, she did not realize she was even moving her hand. It wasn't everyday she got to ride in a behemoth of a truck, with a very intimidatingly sexy guy.

'WHOA!' She mentally screamed. 'What the hell, brain!?'

Glancing at the 'sexy guy' driving next to her, she took a brief inventory. Short, yet messy black hair. 'Kinda looks like bed-sex head…' There went another mental face palm. Perfect complextion, rugged features but not harsh, even with the scar. Very muscular.

'Wonder how flexible he is?' Lys sucked in a harsh breath, as she seriously began to wonder what was wrong with her today. 'Come on girl, he is just innocently driving you to Sam's. Not driving you to the Lookout.'

At the sound of Lys' harsh intake of breath, Ironhide glanced her way. He noticed she was sitting much more still, but now her cheeks were a much rosier shade. While the full body vibration seemed to have stopped, her fingers had not.

Finding the sensation rather distracting, Ironhide decided that perhaps getting her talking would halt her questing fingers.

"So…how long have you known Sam?"

Catching her attention did indeed stop the movement, instead she reached up to play with her hair and she turned her body to face Ironhide.

"Sam? Oh we met about two years ago, when I moved here."

After a few moments, Ironhide realized she was going to let it drop there. Yet contrary to what his fellow Autobots would say, he was an intelligent and curious mech. With a chuckle he asked.

"So why move here?"

Realizing she had been close to falling back into the daydream about the truck, and driver, she took a second to think about what Ironhide had asked. The subject was just the splash of cold water she needed in the moment. As she sat collecting her thoughts, something in her gut told her she could trust this man and that he would guard any information she gave. She wasn't sure why, but full disclosure just seemed to be the way to go.

"Well, I am originally from Terrace Falls. That's about two hours north of here. I lived there since I was born, with my Dad. My mom was never in the picture. See my Dad and his brother used to have a garage together, B & H Wrenchworks. And I guess a fling with one of the towns 'bad boys' was okay, but she refused to be the wife of a grease monkey, so after I was born she left. I grew up with my cousin, and until we were twelve, we are almost sisters."

Once the gates opened, the flood just seemed to come.

"We were the garage go-fers, and both of us fell head over heels in love with all things mechanical. I was the technical junky. Torque ratios, performance tuning, as she put it, the nerd stuff. She was the wrencher. Always pulling something apart, wanting to know the reason it did what it did and how she could improve it. Everything was great, until my Uncle got in some trouble and ended up in prison here, in Tranquility. He was put in a work release program in a local garage, and his wife and their daughter moved here, to be able to see him. When he got out for good, four years later, they decided to stay. You probably know her? Mikayla Banes, she and Sam were a thing, about a year ago, but now they are just friends. Which is cool, cuz Sam and I have been friends since I moved here. Kind of an 'Outcasts have to stick together' thing."

Ironhide was amazed at how much information was thrown at him in such a little time. Taking a second to reprocess, he realized some things did not quite add up.

"Yes, I do know Mikayla…but wait….if your father's garage is in Terrace Falls, why move here?"

A shadow seemed to pass over Lys' face, but was gone in a heartbeat. Her tone was much more subdued, and melancholy.

"Well, that's because two years ago my Dad and Mikayla's Mom and Dad were in a car accident, Mikayla's Dad was the only survivor, he was in the back seat. The drunk that ran the red light was also killed. I was here visiting with Mikayla when it happened. When they released him from the hospital, he told me that I could come live permanently with them here in Tranquility, and so I did."

Feeling like a total slag heap, Ironhide began to apologize.

"I am sor…"

Shaking her head, Lys smiled at him.

"It's okay, now. I have mourned them. And I know that they wouldn't want me sad. Plus I get to have my 'sister' back."

Ironhide didn't say anymore. Eons of war had desensitized him to many things, but the loss of ones creators…he couldn't imagine. His own had perished in the war, but they had always been a military family, going out in a proverbial blaze of glory, was in the job description. He could not understand how Lys was so collected about the situation. And yet at the same time he was impressed by the fortitude this young human was displaying.


End file.
